As much as you hate to deal with the great unwashed that inevitably beat a path to your door when it comes time to sell your old car, selling it yourself is still the best way to get the most money for it. However, pricing it properly is a must. But how much is your old car worth, really?

You used to have to go a bookstore and buy a Kelley Blue Book to learn about conditions and values, but now you don't even have to brush the potato-chip crumbs from your gut so you can leave the house. You can check values from home on the Internet. You can find used-car values all over the Internet, but the following sites are probably the most authoritative:

www.edmunds.com
www.kbb.com
www.nadaguides.com

All these sites will base your car's value on age, mileage and region of the country, which are objective, and condition, which is subjective. And that brings up an important point: Be honest with yourself about your car's condition. Nobody wants to read an ad about a car in "mint" condition only to find that it's in merely good condition. Same goes for the guy who wants a good car and arrives to find one in fair or poor condition. Exaggerating your car's condition is just asking for trouble and inviting excess dickering, which is a nightmare all its own.

Access the Web—use all three sites listed—to get a good idea of values and be honest. Spend some money or some time to clean up the car before you sell it. Clean cars sell more easily. Then, set your price to what you realistically think you would pay for such a car and stick with it. It'll either be worth it to the buyer or not.

Oh, and it's a bit of a dirty trick, but schedule all your buyers to show up at your house at the same time. This creates the illusion that your car is in high demand. The scarcity principle will take over and the prospects will be more motivated to buy before someone else does.

Learn more about this author, Brett Becker.
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